


Movie Star

by Gaby



Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe, Case Fic, Humor, M/M, Pre-Slash, off-screen death of original character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-16
Updated: 2015-01-16
Packaged: 2018-03-07 20:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3182462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaby/pseuds/Gaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When McGee meets his favorite actor at a crime scene, he thinks his dreams are coming true.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Movie Star

**Author's Note:**

  * For [taylorgibbs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylorgibbs/gifts).



> Written as a ridiculously late fill for taylorgibbs' prompt _Gibbs/DiNozzo AU. Tony's a famous model, actor, whatever who wakes up next to a dead admiral._ as part of my Unwritten Stories Meme.  
>  Beta by elrhiarhodan

After so many years working for NCIS -- and, most notably, as part of Team Gibbs -- Timothy McGee thought he had seen it all and nothing would be able to faze him anymore.

That was until the team got called to a crime scene in the Presidential Suite of the Adams House Hotel.

Granted, it wasn't the first time they had investigated at this particular hotel -- it had even been a crime scene once or twice in the past -- and granted, while he had never actually been inside the Presidential Suite, McGee had seen enough other impressive hotel suites (not to mention private mansions from the filthy rich) to not make him gawk at the abundance of luxury.

And really, the crime scene sounded like nothing special: a dead admiral found in the suite, a suspect held at the scene.

But then McGee laid eyes on who the suspect actually was, and he lost all professional demeanor.

"You're Tony DiNardo!" he blurted out as soon as he entered the suite, earning himself a death glare from Gibbs.

The man in question sat in a plush armchair, wearing nothing but a white, fluffy hotel bathrobe and a defeated look on his face. He looked up and managed a tired smile. "Ah, the cavalry is here. Finally." He stood up and held out his hand to Gibbs, who just stared at it. After a long moment, Tony let his hand drop. "I asked the hotel staff to call NCIS directly, but these yahoos called Metro Police instead." Tony grimaced and nodded at the two officers who were standing guard at the open door leading to the master bedroom.

McGee peeked around the corner and saw a dead body lying in the bed.

"Maybe one of you nice gentlemen would explain to these equally nice policemen that all of my clothes are in the bedroom and I would really like to get dressed?"

McGee immediately opened his mouth to reprimand the idiotic LEOs but Gibbs stopped him with another glare. 

Gibbs turned to look at Tony. "Mr...DiNardo?"

"Yes." Tony nodded his head and held out his hand again. "Special Agent...?"

"Gibbs." This time, Gibbs shook Tony's hand quickly. Then he nodded at Ducky, who came bustling into the suite with Jimmy in tow, and pointed at the bedroom.

"My, if this isn't Tony DiNardo," Ducky exclaimed. "Such a pleasure to make your acquaintance!" He came over to Tony, his hand outstretched. "I am the medical examiner, Dr. Mallard, but everyone calls me Ducky." He smiled brightly. "Big fan."

Tony smiled pleasantly and shook Ducky's hand. "Very nice to meet you, too," he replied. "Though I wish it were under different circumstances."

"Ah, yes. Yes, yes." Ducky shook his head sadly and looked at the dead body a few feet away. At Gibbs' glare, he walked toward the bedroom. "I shall get back to work then."

"Good," Gibbs muttered and then looked at the notes he had already made in his notepad concerning the case. "Mr. DiNardo, what is your relation to Admiral Rawlings?"

Tony dropped back into the armchair and sighed. "Steve and I were fuck buddies."

McGee almost dropped his camera at that. He knew he was supposed to take photos of the crime scene but had mostly just lurked around the bedroom door to be close enough to eavesdrop. It wasn't a secret that Tony DiNardo was bisexual, but having the man state so crudely what he and the deceased were to each other was still a shock. McGee glanced at Gibbs to gauge the man's reaction, but Gibbs' face remained completely impassive.

"So, friends with benefits?" Gibbs just asked calmly while writing down some notes.

"If you want to call it that." Tony shrugged and rubbed a hand across his eyes. "Look, Agent Gibbs, Steve and I might not have been the next great American love story, but we genuinely liked each other. Waking up next to him like that?" Tony blinked rapidly to keep the tears from falling but a couple escaped anyway. He cleared his throat and wiped them away. "Sorry."

"Never apologize," Gibbs said gruffly. "It's--"

"--a sign of weakness?" Tony finished the sentence, managing a small smile.

McGee's eyes bugged out when he saw Gibbs returning the smile.

"Look, Agent Gibbs, I'll try my best to help you solve this case, but I would really appreciate wearing actual clothing while doing so."

Gibbs nodded once and snapped his fingers. "McGee, get the man some clothes."

McGee almost tripped over his own feet in his eagerness to do his boss' bidding. As he rooted through the small suitcase with the initials "ADD" -- Anthony Dante DiNardo -- he heard Gibbs saying, not unkindly, "Ya realize you're more than a witness here, right?"

"Am I a suspect?"

"Might."

McGee walked out of the bedroom with his arms full of clothing just in time to see Tony swallow hard. "Am I under arrest?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Not yet."

"Okay." Tony looked slightly shell-shocked but tried to put up a brave front. "May I go change in the bathroom? Unsupervised, I mean?"

Gibbs' lips twitched slightly. "Yeah, sure. Doubt you're a flight risk."

Tony managed a small smile at that. "I'll try not to jump out of the window." He took the clothes from McGee and gave them a quick look. "Your agent didn't bring me my Superman outfit so I can't fly away anyway."

Gibbs chuckled and waved Tony away. As soon as Tony closed the bathroom door behind him, Gibbs rounded on McGee and glowered. "The hell, McGee? Who is that guy?"

McGee took a step back. "Uh, that's Tony DiNardo."

"Yeah, gathered as much. Why're ya moonin' over him?"

McGee flapped one hand around. "He's Tony DiNardo!" he exclaimed, as if that explained everything.

At that moment, Ducky wheeled the deceased out of the bedroom on a gurney. The black body bag rustled slightly when the wheels got stuck in the thick carpeting. "Tony DiNardo, Jethro. One of Hollywood's biggest movie stars."

Gibbs just stared uncomprehendingly. 

"I've been hoping to get him to play Tommy in the movie adaption of my Deep Six series."

Gibbs eyes narrowed at that. "They makin' movies out of that crap?"

McGee decided it might be wiser not to mention that he had already signed the contract and was in the middle of writing the screenplay.

"He would be perfect as Tommy," Ducky commented. "I do hope you find a dignified actor to portray my literary counterpart. I'm thinking Anthony Hopkins, perhaps."

"Duck! Crime scene. Dead body." Gibbs pointed at the exit. "Autopsy. Now."

"Pimmy Jalmer better end up on the cutting room floor," Jimmy hissed angrily at McGee before he followed Ducky out of the suite.

McGee thought for a long moment and then decided to give Gibbs the cliff notes. "Tony DiNardo, one of the very few openly bisexual Hollywood stars. He took more flack for it than any openly gay actor. And still he managed to land the biggest roles. He's an action star but also an accomplished character actor. Nominated twice for an Oscar. Already won a Golden Globe. Boss, don't tell me you've never heard of him before."

Gibbs shrugged though McGee could see the wheels turning in the man's head. "Might've heard the name bein' mentioned somewhere." Gibbs looked around the suite. "What's he doin' here anyway?"

"I heard he was one of the guests at that big event at the White House last night. He usually lives in New York, so maybe he decided to spend the night here in DC? It sounded as if he knew Admiral Rawlings so maybe--"

"Steve was the one with the invitation," Tony piped up as he left the bathroom, now fully clothed. "I was his 'plus 1' actually."

"So, Admiral Rawlings was openly gay?" Gibbs asked.

Tony nodded. "He came out a few years ago. You know, when DADT was rescinded." He frowned. "Do you think this was a hate crime?"

"I think we're gonna continue this talk at the Yard. McGee, you finish up here."

McGee opened his mouth to protest, wanting to accompany the movie star back to NCIS, but wisely kept his mouth shut.

At least Kate was on vacation so Gibbs would have to rely on him to help him solve the case. He'd get his chance for some quality one-on-one time with Tony DiNardo sooner or later.

*****

McGee was frustrated.

While Gibbs drove back to the Navy Yard with his favorite actor -- _his favorite actor!_ \-- he was stuck at the crime scene, talking to the LEOs, taking statements from the hotel staff, and processing the entire scene all by himself. It took him hours, and all of his hard work didn't even yield all that much that he could take back with him. The crime scene looked like an ordinary hotel suite. There were no signs of a fight or any wrong-doing. 

McGee took dozens of photos and bagged and tagged what little he found and thought might be important: the bedding, several bottles of pills belonging to Admiral Rawlings, an empty bottle of champagne and one used glass (where was the second glass? McGee wondered). Clothing and other personal belongings were bagged as well, fingerprints were dusted and taken.

When McGee finally arrived at the Navy Yard hours later, Gibbs wasn't in the squad room to headslap him and ask why the hell it had taken him so long. He walked to Abby's lab to bring her his loot, but her lab was also empty. Getting frustrated, McGee went to autopsy, but the only one there was Jimmy who refused to talk to him unless McGee promised him to remove the character of Pimmy Jalmer from the damn movie.

Running out of ideas, McGee headed to interrogation.

In the observation room, Abby was staring through the mirror and chewing on the tip of one pigtail.

"There you are!"

Abby's head whipped around. "Oh. Hi, Timmy." She smiled brightly and bounced on the balls of her feet. "Look, it's Tony DiNardo!" She waved at the mirror.

McGee looked slightly taken aback. "Why is he in interrogation? Did he become a suspect?"

"No. No, no, no, don't worry. Gibbs is just chatting with him."

McGee's eyes bulged out. Gibbs? The functional mute? _Chatting?_

"He wanted to talk to Tony in the conference room but it's being renovated, remember?"

"Right." McGee did remember. 

"Good thing, too. This way others can participate in the discussion. You know, in a passive role." She indicated her spot on the other side of the one-way mirror.

McGee chuckled at that and peered through the mirror. Both men seemed completely relaxed, smiling and chatting amicably. "So, you've been eavesdropping?"

Abby tried to look outraged. "I heard Tony DiNardo is here and I wanted to meet him. But you know we're not supposed to interrupt the Bossman during an interrogation so I decided to...uh...wait here instead." She smiled innocently.

"You said this isn't an interrogation."

Abby realized she was found out. She pouted. "It's Tony DiNardo!" she explained, gesticulating wildly. "I was just curious! Besides, I can't do anything in the lab right now anyway. Major Mass Spec is working on all the samples the Duckman gave me. Until I get any results, I might as well stay here."

McGee hefted the box filled with evidence. "I have new work for you," he offered.

"Oh, shut up, Timmy-boy." Abby focused on the two men in the adjacent room again. "They're totally flirting," she observed.

McGee's eyebrows shot up. Gibbs? Flirting?

Abby seemed to sense his disbelief. "Well, as much as Gibbs can flirt. When Tony asked for a hazelnut latte, he didn't make a scathing comment. Instead, he sent a probie to get one from that little coffee shop a couple blocks away." Abby leaned over to add conspiratorially, "You know, the one that's really expensive." She raised her own eyebrows. "And Gibbs paid for it!"

McGee gaped. That was just about the most romantic gesture he had ever heard Gibbs make.

"And Tony is totally and shamelessly flirting. No wonder though, Gibbs is totally his type."

"He is?" McGee sounded a little disappointed. 

"Yeah, didn't you know?" Abby grinned. "He told Gibbs that he prefers younger women, preferably feisty redheads, but older men. _Dominant_ older men." Abby clapped her hands excitedly. "And did you see the dead admiral? A spitting image of our Bossman."

McGee hadn't really looked at the dead body but from what he could remember, the face did look somewhat similar to Gibbs'. "Wow," he whispered.

"Yeah." Abby pulled a chair over and sat down. "The only thing missing is a bucket of popcorn."

McGee snorted at that but sat down next to her. He tuned into the voices over the intercom, slightly distorted but still clearly Gibbs and Tony DiNardo.

"I went to military school as a kid, Agent Gibbs. And I played in a couple of military movies. I always do my research, no matter how small the role. But even without that, everyone knows to call NCIS and not the local police when a member of the Navy is involved, right? "

"You'd be surprised." Gibbs drank the rest of his coffee and pointed at Tony's cup. "Another?"

"No, thank you. This one had enough calories in it already. I'm on a strict diet at the moment." Tony patted his already well defined six pack. "Building muscles for my next movie. I play a stripper." He flashed one of those bright smiles he was famous for.

Gibbs actually coughed when the coffee went down the wrong pipe. "Stripper?"

Tony's grin got impossibly wider. He showed dimples. "Yeah. It's not the main focus but I'm going to be showing a lot of skin, so..." He shrugged. "Eating lots of veggies and protein. No chocolate, no alcohol--"

"That why there was only one glass next to the empty champagne bottle?"

McGee's eyes widened. "Damn, he's good," he whispered. 

"It's the Bossman, he's the best," Abby replied, smacking McGee's arm.

In the interrogation room, Tony cocked his head. "That's right. I asked Steve not to drink the whole bottle but he didn't listen. He has-- _had_ \--a heart condition. Alcohol wasn't good for him, but he wanted to celebrate. We didn't get to see each other often." Tony suddenly had to fight tears again, and he shook his head. "The champagne wouldn't have been all that bad, but Steve had already had quite a few drinks during the banquet."

Gibbs nodded. "My condolences."

"Thank you."

Abby sighed dreamily while she watched the two men. "Tony offered to give some blood for a drug test. It came back negative. He's telling the truth." She wrinkled her nose. "The admiral's blood? The results almost blew up Major Mass Spec. Blood alcohol level of almost point-three. Add to that a whole cocktail of heavy duty meds..." She shook her head. "I'm surprised he could still stand upright. They definitely didn't get all that frisky last night, let me tell you."

"Abby!"

"Just saying."

In the interrogation room, both men stood up. "I'll walk ya out," Gibbs said, even though he held out his hand as if he wanted to shake Tony's hand good-bye.

"Sounds good," Tony replied, grasping the hand and holding it.

After several seconds, they cleared their throats, dropped their hands and pretended nothing had happened. 

"They're so cute together," Abby enthused. "I really wish I had some popcorn, though."

McGee rolled his eyes and hoped like hell that Gibbs wouldn't find them eavesdropping.

*****

As it turned out, Admiral Rawlings died of natural causes. The mix of medication and alcohol, combined with a heart condition, had killed him. He had died peacefully in his sleep.

It was a testament to NCIS, Metro Police, not to mention the hotel staff, that the fact that Tony DiNardo's male lover died in bed next to him hadn't hit the news until the cause of death was determined. In an official press release, the case was summed up, including a statement from Special Agent Gibbs as the leading investigator and Tony DiNardo as the sole witness.

The whole incident made the top news for one day and was all but forgotten the next.

McGee was busy writing his report when he suddenly saw Tony strolling into the squad room. He immediately stopped typing and stood up, his hand held out in greeting. "Mr. DiNardo!"

Tony smiled brightly and came over to shake McGee's hand. "Call me Tony, please."

McGee gaped like a fish out of water.

Tony, however, only had eyes for Gibbs. "You promised me something," he said to the older man, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

Gibbs grinned back and reached into one of his drawers. He pulled out an NCIS cap and offered it to Tony with a flourish.

Tony grinned like a little kid and put on the cap. "Awesome." He adjusted it just the tiniest bit. "Okay, you ready to roll?"

Gibbs nodded, stood up and grabbed his gun.

"Ready to roll? Roll where?" McGee asked. He wondered if he could roll as well.

"Shooting range." Tony looked giddy. "Jethro promised to coach me. My gun skills are a bit rusty and I'll need them for my next movie."

"Jeth...ro?" McGee echoed slowly. He stared in disbelief. What the hell was happening?

"Yeah, that's my name, McGee." Gibbs snapped his fingers and pointed at McGee's computer. "Expect your report on my desk when I get back."

"Uh..." McGee just blinked. "Okay. Right. Yeah." He watched Gibbs and Tony walking toward the elevator and realized that this might be his last chance to get his favorite actor to play in his movie. "Uh, Mr. DiNardo? Tony?" He ran after them and held the elevator door open so that they couldn't just leave.

"Yes, Agent McGee?"

"Um, you see... You may not know this, but I'm also a writer. I, uh, I wrote the Deep Six books."

"Oh, I know. Jethro told me."

"He did?"

Tony nodded, smiling at Gibbs for a moment. Then he gave McGee a thumbs-up. "Really liked the books."

"Thank you!" McGee blushed and looked flustered. The elevator pinged angrily, but he forcefully held the doors open. 

"McGee!" Gibbs growled warningly.

"Yes, Boss. Just a sec." McGee gave Tony his best puppy eyes. "We're developing a movie based on my first novel," he said quickly. "I was wondering if you'd be interested in, you know, playing Tommy? Maybe?" McGee held his breath while Tony seemed to contemplate the offer.

After a couple of seconds, Tony flashed another one of his bright smiles. "I always liked the character of Tommy," he admitted. "Not so much the story arc of the whole will-they-won't-they between him and Lisa, though. Can't stand her." He thought for a moment. "Tell you what. Give Tommy a different love interest and I might consider your offer." He leaned meaningfully into Gibbs' personal space.

McGee's mouth gaped open when Gibbs smirked knowingly at him. 

A second later, the elevator doors closed with a resounding thud.

THE END


End file.
